A novel micromachining technique for the formation of extrusions

A novel micro-extrusion process (MEP) has been developed for micromachining applications. Extrusions on the micrometer scale were realized using the compressive stresses resulting from electromigration-induced mass transport in planarized conductors. Electromigration produced compressive stresses at the anodes of passivated metallic interconnects that exceeded the plastic deformation stress, and allowed extrusions to form through simple die patterns etched through the passivation at the anode ends of edge-displacement conductor segments.